Bret Michaels' Publicist Rather Obviously Lets Information Slip

Singer Bret Michaels is in critical condition suffering from a brain hemorrhage, his publicist Joann Mignano said. Michaels the former Poison frontman was rushed to intensive care late Thursday after a severe headache. Doctors discovered bleeding at the base of his brain stem. The 47-year-old glam-rock reality TV star had an emergency appendectomy at a private care facility for diabetics last week after complaining of stomach pains before he was scheduled to perform in San Antonio, Texas. Michaels is currently a contestant on the third season of Donald Trump's NBC competitive reality show, The Celebrity Apprentice. Trump said in a statement Friday that he was deeply saddened to hear of Michaels' condition. File Photo: 10 January 2010 - Pasadena, California - Bret Michaels. NBC Universal Press Tour Cocktail Party held at the Langham Hotel.

Information has been slow to be released, and up until this point the public only knew he was in a hospital and was in critical condition, and he had spoken a few words.

Never was any of the effects detailed, and so now it is interesting from a statement analysis perspective.

His publicist said, "We are hopeful that further tests will locate the source of the bleeding, which still has not been located. As we all know, Bret is a fighter, and we are hopeful that once all is complete, the slurred speech, blurred vision and dizziness, etc., will be eliminated and all functions will return to normal."

For someone who makes his current living in front of the cameras on reality shows this is a bombshell. Publicists should know what to say and how to say, and we have no reason to think this publicist is a moron. So now we have to look at how the information was released. It was done in a casual manner, as if we already knew this information; in a subtle way so it lessons the impact. It can take away the value as a emotional or energized statement.

It is a good lesson for us. Think back to having to convey some bad information and how it is so natural to blurt it out- now think of ways you could have said it differently... it is a skill that avoids the "don't kill the messenger" concept.◦

Bret Michaels' Publicist Rather Obviously Lets Information Slip